Picturerama

Summer slips by. I nurse. And nurse. And do food, dishes, laundry and house cleaning. Isak is amazing in helping with Julia, holding her and keeping her from crying, which is what she otherwise does most of the time when I have to put her down and get things done. And Mark works like a horse, at work and home, doing the bulk of the shopping these days and mows a MUCH bigger yard. But we do some fun things too...

...like going to the Lego store for a meeting with a certain fictional university professor that Isak adores.

and lots of baths for Anja after very dirty outdoor games (check out the hair)

and swimming almost every night

and snuggling

getting together with family

more pooltime

some unhappy times, for Julia especially, but playtime too:


and catching frogs, which our yard has lots of
Elina is actually the master of this, even though Isak is in this picture

Linbanan

Isak ville att jag skulle ladda upp den här lilla filmen. Detta filmades i går kväll vid ett asvskedskalas till vänner som ska flytta. Strax efteråt vid just denna plats blev en flicka biten av en skallerorm...

12 Years

It is 12 years today since I took the plunge (literally) and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On that day I probably expected to have come further along on the road to perfection after 12 years... What would my 20 year-old self have thought of the 32 year-old me? What? You're still working on 'love thy neighbor'? Indeed.

We took a few snapshots outside the church today to commemorate the occasion.

Anja is chewing on her nursery craft

7 weeks

Meet Julia. Aka Little Miss Sunshine if held, talked to, cuddled and fed. She knows the good things life has to offer. Being alone in the bouncy seat, bed, or car seat (or alone anywhere else) is not one of those good things. When sleeping in bed with Mamma (the only proper way to sleep besides being held) she has a built in radar to wake up at the exact moment Mom tries to slip out of bed.

Nothing to fear, Mamma is here

Mamma, detta är en av dom du köpte på Ullared, storlek 62.
Lagom i kroppen men lite lång i ärmarna ännu.

Story Time

Julia, 6 weeks, is centered on the king size bed. I go to the bathroom. I return. She's reading a book.
Oh, and a strange and wonderful spirit has caught hold of our 7 year old Isak. He's been cleaning, or picking up, that is - WITHOUT BEING ASKED. His room. His sister's room, the living room, the play room, and returning random items to their designated places, a cup to the kitchen, some toy cars to their proper toy box... And when I praise him in delighted astonishment he has that self satisfied look on his face that I love. And a dialogue is held that I never thought would come about: "Sweetheart, you don't have to clean anymore." "I know, mom. But I can if I want to."

The Trampoline

Mark disassembled, hauled and re-assembled a new toy for us. Well, it is used, naturally. Half price compared to new. We buy everything we possibly can on craigslist and have sold countless items there too.

The kids have jumped so much on this trampoline that Isak, poor thing, has sore stomach muscles to the point where he can't jump for a few days. He pouted about it (pouted being an understatement) when I took these pictures. I confess I have jumped on it too trying to resurrect a few basic moves.... Good exercise, actually.

Pool Time

Julia stretching on Mamma's lap

Isak and Elina have taken swim lessons every evening for a month. Isak has swum unassisted for three years, but Elina just learned this summer. Mark has been SO helpful in taking all three older kids to the pool when he gets home from work. Mark and Anja play while Isak and Elina are in their lessons, and I stay home and nurse the baby. I have not even gone for half of their lessons, and when I do I leave Anja with Mark. She is such a daddy's girl lately. "Pappa kommer snart," (daddy is coming soon) she says as soon as she wakes up in the morning, poor thing. An 8 hour work day is not exactly 'soon.'

Anyhow, after their lessons, before we leave the pool, Isak and Elina get to swim freely for another 45 minutes. Below is some footage from Monday night.
Okay, so this is not a pool picture. This is Anja being Pippi Longstocking and Pappa being her horse. Pippi stands on her horse just like this in one sequence of one of the movies.

The Other Mother

Julia happy in her big sister's care

Meet Elina, 5 and almost a half, with a self-confidence rivaled by few. She carries her youngest (look-alike) sister around much to my terror and possibly Julia's peril. Or not? I am not brave enough to find out where her limitations are. No incidences yet, though. She's awfully good at handling her, I have to admit, just not as good at listening to the guidelines I set up for sister-caring...

Happy Birthday, Isak!

Isak turned 7 on July 5th, but with July 4th on a Saturday we held a part for him yesterday. We don't do parties every year, and this year was clearly not the best one to do it, because as a nursing mother it was a logistics challenge to run this smoothly. Thanks to good friends it went pretty well, despite a few hitches (any kids' party is somewhat organized chaos, I suppose). Tiffany made extra pigs-in-a-blanket for me while I nursed, and Kristin helped on the activity. Thanks, girls, you are the best!

Backward Summer Re-Cap

swimlessons and pool time

Here is an assemblage of pictures from varying summer activities, chronologically backwards, more or less.



Isak turned 7, Julia is barely 3 weeks here



We went to Dallas for Swedish Midsummer Celebration



Elina graduated from Safety Town



And last day of school and June 4th